Making myself a handy tool: A Lathe.

[Train_Fan]

I have been jonesing for a lathe for my wood shop for a long time. Having come across some spare pulleys in my journeys and finding that one fits on my bench grinder arbor, I decided I will make a lathe that for now will run off the grinder (Till I get a dedicated motor).
I started construction as of earlier today, and I will have pictures of what I have so far available tomorrow, along with further details!

 

[nissan20det]

Sweet! Ya I will be in the same process here in two weeks. Im making my 4th axis on my mill table a lathe as well. I have a good simple light and sturdy plan. But I have been having troubles finding the right bearings. Need ones with no play really no more than 2 ten thaow but WWW.littlemachineshop.com has a really nice motor with variable speed controller in 110v for like 150$http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3062&category=
That'll be my driver and most likely will do a shars 6" chuck on eBay for like 120$....

How about you what are you doing for bearings..... I guess your not quite in the same tolerance standards as me, you doing a wood lathe and all. But hows it coming?

 

[Train_Fan]

Well so far, I'm at a crossroads. For bearings I am using some random ones that were lying around and just happened to fit a rod I had.

This is my headstock shaft as it sits:

The pulley is mounted onto a sleeve with a setscrew. That assembly is situated on a section of all-thread with some shims for concentrically. On either side of the sleeve are two bearings (INA 6001 if specifics are needed, I have plenty handy so I used them) which will be inset into the headstock housing and the whole shebang is held tight with two nuts, may later add locknuts or similar. These nuts are what actually transmits the rotational force to the rod, so I'll see how that holds and modify from there.

What my lathe bed and "ways" will look like. The toolpost will be a wide "C" arrangement that will slide in the two slots shown on the sides.

A closer view of what the wayplates look like. Next step is to get the two mounted to each side of the main bed piece, parallel to each other and polished for easy traverse.

Now I have a question!
After assembling what I have shown for a shaft, my father told me that the 1/2" All-Thread I was using was not a suitable item as a shaft, and after some thought I'd tend to agree given that it is a material designed for tension, not torsion. As you all deal with this material more than I do and have better understanding of the forces involved, what is your input? Is it fine as-is, or should I order in real shafting, along with bearings and blocks?

 

[nissan20det]

Let's see..... my opinion is it all depend on the "max runout " you wanna see and or wanna work around. All thread is just mild steel sometimes galvanized or with a zinc coating. Which is very weak for the type of stress you are applying. Will it work yes, is it ideal probably not. Ive never dealt with a wood lathe but I do know to much runout will = an oval cut instead of a circle. So it all depends on how much stress you put on the all thread latteraly. Lots of tension on the drive side may bend it causing ungodly wobble. But if it is true to begin with and you don't put a lot of stressed tension on the rod you could be fine. But you can always give it a shot and if you get to much runout then ya go with a correct shaft for the job..

 

[Brian Rupnow]

All thread is not suitable. ---Brian

 

[Train_Fan]

Well, it runs:

I set up what I had in a removable manner to see if what I had was feasible.
Here's the headstock, before some cleanup work:

And here is how the carriage and tailstock are set into the bed. For those who perceive the base to be not perpendicular to the bed, its an optical allusion made by the wayplates not being cut flush yet.

And the first item made on it!

Scrap piece of maple made into a ring, approx 1-1/4" in diameter and finished with mineral oil.

 

[MCRIPPPer]

that is some nice woodwork. i have never been that good at making things accurate when working in wood.

 

[Train_Fan]

I just sourced a step pulley and a 1/8HP motor (Total Cost: $22 for the pulley, motor was free) for the lathe. The pulley was installed and the motor tested, all works so now to focus on the tailstock and toolrest, then to work on the motor mount and controls!